Postcards offer glimpses of the past can now be seen online

This postcard shows North Church Street in Spartanburg. Signs for businesses such as Herring Furniture Co., Victory Grill Hotel and A.H. Banks Jeweler are clearly visible, as is the sign for the Carolina Theatre, which was featuring “Tarzan’s New York Adventure,” a film starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan that was released in 1942.

Courtesy of William Lynch Postcard Collection/Spar

By Lee G. Healy

Published: Friday, February 15, 2013 at 1:08 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 15, 2013 at 1:08 p.m.

From heartfelt messages of love and loss to updates about fevers, the personal histories of generations past can be gleaned from the brief snippets on the backs of postcards.

Bill and Judy Lynch began collecting postcards more than 30 years ago, and now the collection, roughly 1,200 images of life in the Spartanburg area and beyond, can be viewed on the Spartanburg County Public Libraries’ website.

Library workers spent four years scanning the cards – the oldest of which dates to 1875 – to make The William Lynch Postcard Collection available to the public.

Bill Lynch, a Wofford College graduate and retired textile manager, is an avid collector of historical paper items. He said the postcards offer a glimpse into “the way we were and the way things used to look,” adding that he was pleased to share the correspondence with other history buffs.

The Twitter of yesteryear, the postcards offer brief, but telling peeks into the lives of soldiers stationed at camps Croft and Wadsworth, as well as others who called this area home during the 20th century.

“It’s good to share them,” Lynch said. “Anybody looking for a picture of the building that Grandpa had in Spartanburg can find it there. Over the years, most everything in Spartanburg has been turned into a postcard.”

Five facts about the William Lynch Postcard Collection

1. The collection has about 1,200 images, mostly from the 20th century.

2. Bill Lynch tracked the postcards down from across the country, buying them from dealers and salvaging them from flea markets.

3. The database is searchable, so if you’re looking for a card featuring a particular image, you can find it easily.

4. Images of the postcards are available for purchase, with some restrictions.

5. The database is available at infodepot.org in the Historical Digital Collections section.

<p>From heartfelt messages of love and loss to updates about fevers, the personal histories of generations past can be gleaned from the brief snippets on the backs of postcards.</p><p>Bill and Judy Lynch began collecting postcards more than 30 years ago, and now the collection, roughly 1,200 images of life in the Spartanburg area and beyond, can be viewed on the Spartanburg County Public Libraries' website.</p><p>Library workers spent four years scanning the cards – the oldest of which dates to 1875 – to make The William Lynch Postcard Collection available to the public.</p><p>Bill Lynch, a Wofford College graduate and retired textile manager, is an avid collector of historical paper items. He said the postcards offer a glimpse into “the way we were and the way things used to look,” adding that he was pleased to share the correspondence with other history buffs.</p><p>The Twitter of yesteryear, the postcards offer brief, but telling peeks into the lives of soldiers stationed at camps Croft and Wadsworth, as well as others who called this area home during the 20th century.</p><p>“It's good to share them,” Lynch said. “Anybody looking for a picture of the building that Grandpa had in Spartanburg can find it there. Over the years, most everything in Spartanburg has been turned into a postcard.”</p><p><b>Five facts about the William Lynch Postcard Collection</b></p><p>1. The collection has about 1,200 images, mostly from the 20th century.</p><p>2. Bill Lynch tracked the postcards down from across the country, buying them from dealers and salvaging them from flea markets.</p><p>3. The database is searchable, so if you're looking for a card featuring a particular image, you can find it easily.</p><p>4. Images of the postcards are available for purchase, with some restrictions.</p><p>5. The database is available at infodepot.org in the Historical Digital Collections section.</p>